Thought it was fine. There were some nice buildings, and lots of people/noise/pollution.

It's dawning on me that I just might not be a city person.

Snowy low population village in the mountains with high speed internet, minimal political creep, zero interference by govt or mega corps and a long term professional assignment with no bosses (book contract/research assignment etc.) is the dream.

The only place I can think of with all of the above (even a police station is a couple of hours away) - Internet is an issue, even though a couple of hotels have managed to get private wifi connections.

I still love the place (Tosh) though and visit it once or twice a year - modernised enough for getting the latest utilities/confectionaries (thanks to the Jews living there) but built in such a way that using any vehicle apart from a bicycle is impossible there. It’s located near several mountaineering base camps as well. It also has some of the best handrolled hashish in the world,